On Insulting Newcomers and Tigers

Yesterday I had to delete four ranting comments from people who clearly had never visited Animal Person before and completely misconstrued my post about the mauling (and death) by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo. I even tried to write the people to tell them of the etiquette of Animal Person, but alas, their e-mail addresses weren’t valid (I should’ve known by simply reading them aloud).

First, this is a civilized blog, where I ponder serious questions and expect commenters to treat what may even seem like silly questions, as genuine inquiry. Yes, there is a healthy helping of sarcasm in Animal Person, which aids me in getting through the day, but this isn’t fun and games.

As for the tiger maulings and killings, and my suggestion that we not keep 300-pound predators captive, at no point was my solution to show them the door and release them into the wild streets of San Francisco or the wild where they would have belonged had we not been keeping them captive. Yes, captive. They cannot leave.

In fact, I don’t know one person who would suggest such piffle, yet all four (2 anonymous–shocker!) of my irate commenters believed that was what I was suggesting.

Here’s the deal: If we stop breeding animals, their captive populations (including cats and dogs) will naturally decline. Naturally, laws that prohibit the owning of wild animals by individuals might be a nice idea. Oh, and enforcing such laws. To step up the plan, send wild cats to sanctuaries to live out their natural lives. Removing the cats from zoos sends a message to the public that they don’t belong in zoos. But it also sends a dangerous flipside message, unintentionally, that the other animals do belong in zoos. And I don’t like that message.

For those of us who don’t believe nonhuman animals are ours to use, even as entertainment or for "education," this is a grave issue because it speaks to our strategy. And some acts that might at least in the short-term appear to serve that strategy do our cause a disservice in the long-run (and maybe even in the short-run, too).

And with most of the population of the world against us (some of whom express that in the vilest of ways, quite frequently), we must make sure our philosophy and our actions are aligned to the best of our abilities.

For those of you who find what vegans do to do be silly and meaningless, I ask you about the meaning in your lives. What mission do you serve? I hope it is a kind one of nonviolence and justice–one that has making the world a better place as its focus–and I wish you the best with it.